Gharnash and Laz succeed in blasting down the door at the same time, opening up a passage to a hidden back room. Through the broken door, the group can see the mage, his hands filled with a variety of small items and his pockets overflowing with coins and jewels. While his injuries still look bad, you can tell he's recovered a bit in his few moments alone back here.

Seeing you enter, the Mage yells "Walk away now - this is none of your concern!"

It's the Mage's turn in the initiative, but you can let me know the order you'd like to move into the room, and what, if anything, you'd like to do with the Goblin. Everyone is near the door except Alfred, who I assume is still in the middle of the last room.

OOC: Curator might want to go in first since he is the only one who can take a direct hit right now. That being said, I am fine with Gharnash running in, as well, given his propensity for recklessness in battles, especially with those who have hurt him before.

The mage sees you enter, draws his staff and again strikes it on the ground, causing lightning to dance across the floor toward the group. The lightning jumps up and hits Curator and Laz each for 10 damage, and Gharnash for 5. Gharnash almost falls to the ground, but finds the strength to continue as the Mage starts to head up the stairs.

Lighting: The room features bright light.Tables: The tables have a variety of items on them - books, candlesticks, assorted heirlooms, etc. They can be overturned with a successful strength check and used as cover.Boxes: The boxes are stacked in the corner, and can be climbed. That said, they don't look too stable.Stairs: There is a spiral staircase in the back corner of the room. Steps are difficult terrain. The stairs head up into a very narrow vertical tunnel.

"Well, uhm, goblin. You seem to be the luckiest, err, goblin I'ver ever heard of. You're free to go. Please don't cross paths with us again or we might really have to kill you next time." says Alfred to the sharpshooter, before letting his storm pillar dissipate and joining his colleagues in the hidden room.

OOC: By the way, since the last encounter never ended and we didn't have a short rest, I guess we all (enemies included) can't use any encounter powers we used previously. Is that right? If so, then the enemy wizard maybe can't use that staff power again. Unless it was a recharge of course. On a different note, Alfred can cut off the wizard's escape by summoning his fire warrior on the staircase above him. I can also cut him off with the storm pillar, since creatures cannot move through the pillar.

Laz moves into the room, "Pull him off of the stairs!" A wave of psychic energy bursts forth, and instead of doing what Laz intends, it throws everyone back a few feet. When the dust settles, a human is standing where the half-elf had been.

Minor Action: Changeling Disguise (Alter form to new Medium humanoid, gain +5 bonus to Bluff vs. Insight against new form) to human.

OOC: Move to 0604, BB on Mage hitting Fort 7 for 13 damage...FLUB! Odd roll gives me a saving throw and roll of 1 pushes all creatures within 5 (that is everyone in the room) of me 1 sq. Change to a human.

Ignoring his deep wounds that threaten to send him into oblivion, Gharnash focuses his energy on the mage, sending a cloud of frost toward him. He then charges into the room and unleashes his breath weapon.

OOC: IC is down again. Mike, can you roll?

Standard: Dragonfrost at mage. +6 (4 +1 24h +1 for being bloodied) vs FORT. On a hit, 1d8+8 cold damage, and Gharnash can push the mage 1 square (which he will do if he can push it down the stairs, or off the stairs at 0801).Move: Walk to 0603Minor: Dragon Breath at mage. +8 (+6 +1 24h +1 for being bloodied) vs REF. On a hit, 1d6+1 lightning damage.

Laz, excited to finally have made it into the room, tries to hit the running mage but instead explodes with a burst of energy, pushing everyone away from him, including pushing the mage off the stairs and onto his back. Gharnash takes advantage of the situation, hitting the mage with his dragon frost for 12 damage. He moves into the room and tries to attack again, but misses.

"Oh my! Laz, you really need to learn to control yourself!." says Alfred, as he straightens himself from nearly tumbling over. "Err, where did the wizard go?" he asks, not seeing him on the staircase any longer.

OOC: Can a creature move to space 802 on ground level? Is that underneath the staircase?

EDIT: Gary, if you're planning on using Magic Weapon, do you want to delay until after Alfred and I'll move him next to Laz?

Curator 143-Theta moves into the room next to the dragonborn and changeling, resigns himself to continuing this fight, then waits for Alfred to come closer together so as to maximize his assistance to his allies.

"I think we've got him!" says Alfred triumphantly as he moves into the room to stand next to Curator (804). As soon as he steps near, the artificer hurls one of his magical daggers at the prone wizard, further injuring him, yet clearly aimed at a non-vital organ between the legs. "Oh, err, that was quite a good shot Curator. I wonder if we even need reinforcements?" muses Alfred. "Well, perhaps it wouldn't hurt...although...if my calculations are correct, just the right concussive force against such an injured torso at fifteen feet distance should knock him out cold. Let's find out!" With that he claps his hands together and a nigh-visible wave of air rushes towards the enemy wizard, impacting with a thunderous boom and rattling his entire body.

OOC: Curator's Magic Weapon hits 25 vs. AC for 5 non-lethal damage, granting +1/+3 hit/damage to all allies. Thunderwave hits 26 vs FORT for 15 non-lethal damage. Choosing NOT to push. Jon, I initially was all excited to summon the fire warrior to do damage/cut off escape, but looking at the past posts realized that the wizard was already bloodied at 21 hp or less. After Curator and Alfred, he's now down to 53 and hopefully out cold. I can still summon the fire warrior (or storm pillar) next round, since the wizard is prone and won't escape in just one round. There still was one room from the beginning we didn't look into and could consider doing so with fire warrior.

Gharnash turns to notice the meek wizard unleash a powerful torrent of thundrous energy, knocking the mage out. "About time you did something productive," Gharnash says to Alfred, but his eyes glimmer with slightly more respect than normal.

Gharnash then takes a little time to search the room and the mage.

OOC: Gharnash will use his last 2 surges to get back to 17/24 HP. He is up for continuing up the stairs or finding a place for an extended rest after we question the mage. Oh, and nice turn, Viktor!!

Curator, seeing an opening, waits for Alfred to join him before tossing a well-placed dagger into the upper leg of the mage. Alfred then immediately fires off a thunderwave, aided by Curator's powers, which also hits the mage, knocking him out cold.

"Now that the threat is taken care of, let me take a look at what this thief has collected over time. I'll look around the tables. Maybe one of you wants to search his body. What item or items did the headmaster request us to seek again?" In between examining the items, he takes some time to rest and recuperate.